Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the field of directional and/or mapping processes and systems for operation on electronic devices, such as smart phones and similar devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a social profiling, mapping and meeting coordination involving a secondary party accompanied by a primary party.
Description of Related Art
Typical mapping and navigation applications (“apps”) and services today only focus on human users, ignoring other potential beneficiaries such as dogs or even babies. Such apps are meant to be first person experiences, allowing a user to manage a location and a social profile on a map. A 2011 survey by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) estimated that there are over 43 million households in the United States, about 36.5% of total U.S. households, with at least one dog. In 2012, a study performed by a consumer group estimated that 22% of the World's population, about one out of every five people, will own a smartphone by 2013.
These numbers, while seemingly unrelated, represent two great passions and trends in American and World culture. However, no current solution allows social profiles and mapping services for dogs managed on their behalf by their owner/human. In addition, no current apps or mapping programs combine social profiles for dogs on a map with live location data or dog friendly points of interest used for meeting point determination. Current GPS and location technology is used with dogs only for lost and found tracking purposes, and no existing solution allows the placement of dog social profiles on a map that can be managed on behalf of a dog by a human (their owner), while also allowing interaction and meetings between two or more dogs at dog friendly points of interest.
Further, typical mapping solutions only provide single direction point navigation, such as one person to a single point of interest, or in some cases, one person to the location of another person, or between two cars. None of these systems have been applied to dogs. In addition, although a mapping or navigation system may provide points of interest, there is often no way to determine whether that point of interest is dog friendly. No current no apps/services enable near instantaneous in-person meetings between dogs and dog owners or provide social profiles based on locations, which are also searchable by a set of traits, so that owners of dogs can potentially meet.
As described more fully below, the present invention provides a mapping and social profile system which performs multiple functions in conjunction with a smartphone.